The Lost Shtetl museum in Šeduva has acquired the Chaim Frenkel Factory Synagogue in Šiauliai and plans to reconstruct the dilapidated building for use again as a synagogue.
“The brick building […] is currently in a poor condition, so the museum’s plans include its reconstruction and adaptation for use,” the museum said on its web site. “It is planned that after the reconstruction, the synagogue will again fulfill its original purpose – it will become a functioning Jewish prayer house.”
It said the restoration project, to be funded by the Swiss-based YouthAid Foundation, will take several years as the building “is in an exceptionally poor state.”
Built at the initiative of leather factory owner Chaim Frenkel for workers at his sprawling adjacent factory, the small, two-storey synagogue is built of yellow brick with arched windows and red brick trim.
According to the book Synagogues in Lithuania: A Catalogue, it was designed by the architect Yakov Ushakov and erected in 1914 to replace a wooden synagogue built for workers in 1907. Nationalized in 1941, it was turned into a gym during the Soviet era and was used as a chapel from 1994. Most interior features, including the ark, were lost.
The synagogue is located near Frenkel’s luxurious art nouveau mansion, which today houses the Chaim Frenkel Villa Museum, part of the Aušros Museum. Its exhibit, called “The Frenkel Family, Industrialists,” presents the history of two generations of the Frenkel Family and the Jews of Šiauliai.
The museum and other sites are part of a new, 39 kilometer Jewish heritage route that leads from Šeduva and Šiauliai.
See the announcement on the Lost Shtetl Museum web site
See the English language booklet for the heritage route
See architectural description and photos of the synagogue by the Center for Jewish Art